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\f0\b\fs24 \cf0 December 2015 Was the Wettest Month Ever Recorded in UK
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by Damian Carrington\
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\cf0 Jan. 5, 2016 \'96 December was the wettest month ever recorded in the UK, with almost double the rain falling than average, according to data released by the Met Office on Tuesday.\
Last month saw widespread flooding, which continued into the new year, with 21 flood alerts in England and Wales and 4 in Scotland in force on Tuesday morning.\
The record for the warmest December in the UK was also smashed last month, with an average temperature of 7.9\'b0C, which is 4.1\'b0C higher than the long-term average.\
Climate change has fundamentally changed the UK weather, said Prof Myles Allen, at the University of Oxford: \'93Normal weather, unchanged over generations, is a thing of the past. You are not meant to beat records by those margins, and if you do so, just like in athletics, it is a sign something has changed.\'94\
The Met Office records stretch back to 1910. While December saw a record downpour particularly affecting the north of England, Scotland and Wales, 2015 overall was only the 6th wettest year on record.\
The high temperatures in December would normally be expected in April or May. There was an almost complete lack of air frost across much of England. The average from 1981-2010 was for 11 days of air frost in December, but last month there were just 3 days. Across 2015, the average UK temperature was lower than in 2014, though globally 2015 was the hottest year on record.\
Allen said it has been predicted as far back as 1990 that global warming would mean warmer, wetter winters for the UK, with more intense rainstorms. The flooding caused by Storm Desmond, centered on Cumbria, is estimated to have been made 40% more likely by climate change.\
\'93If an athlete starts popping pills, it does not guarantee they win every race, but it does change their chances,\'94 he told the BBC. \'93The physics [of climate change] is relatively simple: as we warm the atmosphere, the weather systems that move in from the Atlantic contain more moisture, so they dump more rain.\'94\
\'93We have known for a very long time that these signs were likely to be one of the earliest symptoms of climate change, and now we are seeing them, it\'92s not very surprising,\'94 Allen said.\
For December 2015 in the UK, compared to the 1981-2010 average, temperature was 7.9\'b0C vs 3.8, sunshine hours were 29.8 vs 40.8, and precipitation was 230 mm vs 120.\
\'93Temperature and rainfall records will inevitably tumble as climate change intensifies,\'94 said Prof David Reay, at the University of Edinburgh. \'93It is the increasingly extreme rainfall events, storm surges, heat waves, and droughts that will truly test our resilience to climate change. On the evidence of the past month, we are far from prepared.\'94\
The government\'92s own scientists warned that increased flooding was the greatest risk for the UK from climate change. But annual flood defense budgets were cut in 2011-12; they only recovered to previous levels with emergency funding in 2014-15.\
Clare Dinnis, flood risk manager at the Environment Agency, said: \'93Our work continues into the new year, as we offer ongoing support to communities that have been affected by these terrible floods. With more wet weather due this week, we are monitoring the situation across the country closely.\'94\
On Tuesday morning, there were 21 flood alerts - meaning flooding is expected - across England and Wales, including 8 in north-east England. There were also 138 flood warnings, meaning flooding is possible. In Scotland, there were 4 flood alerts and 32 flood warnings.\
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\cf0 www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/05/december-2015-was-wettest-month-ever-recorded-in-uk}